Background

Looking into the crystal sphere, I see two alternative futures of the world. In the first one, let’s call it the Dust Age, society is fragmented. The low population was isolated into separate city-states where resources were limited. Independence was worshiped as the only protocol and physical contact was prohibited.

The other one can be named the Smart Globe — the citizens are highly blended into the infrastructure. Their emotions are perceived in real-time and turned into sources of energy contributing to the totalitarian system.

Privacy is a devalued surplus in the Dust Age while having secrets in the Smart Globe is a priceless experience. The Smart Globers crave encrypting their minds and the Dust Agers chase decrypting. Nevertheless, intimacy was their mutual dream.

And dreams, the ultimate riddles veiled with metaphorical images and scenes, were the only door to humanity’s hope.

Introduction

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. A mysterious agency took the initiative. They were brave boundary-crossers who had no fear. They invented a device called MythRhino and secretly sent them to 40 selected candidates (20 in the Dust Age and 20 in the Smart Globe). MythRhino helps match users according to their audio dream notes. After a period of time, the duos’ dreams gradually become in sync, and the user enjoys the process of coding and decoding visions with their dream partner.

The “tentacles” of MythRhino are attached to the user’s head and face in order to measure the electrical activities of the brain and the facial expression. A mini voice receiver and an AI program are installed inside the device to calculate the user’s psychological and physical reactions and transform the information into stimuli that allow the partner user to perceive abstract images in their mind.

The Sync

The Name

Rhinoceros has been seen as an auspicious animal in ancient China. The ancient Chinese believed that a white stripe exists in a rhinoceros’ horn, which links the two ends like a thread so that rhinoceroses have extremely acute senses. A famous line of love poetry by Li Shangyin says, “Although we have no rainbow-like wings to fly side by side like phoenixes, our hearts are linked just like the proverbial rhinoceros’ horn and can communicate with each other telepathically.”

Named after this touching line, MythRhino was designed to restore this legendary kind of bond between people. Its exterior shape not only celebrates the pure affinity described in the poetry but also pays tribute to the Sumatran rhinoceroses who were rendered extinct because of human’s impact on the ecosystem.

Afterword

The futures I envisioned could be the presumed present that I dared not reveal. The design was adapted from a story that I wrote, Lancaoshushu, where two girls with the same rare name coincidentally found each other. Due to living in strictly segregated cities, they had to use a device called “lingxi” (Spiritual Rhino) to communicate. However, the final design was inspired by a series of dreams that I had in Fall 2021.

I designed and handmade the prototypes, illustrated the concept images and the storyboard for filming, wrote the script, played the role of the two characters, and edited the film.